Anybody Ever "test" The Torque Of Impact Wrenches?

[P T Schram]

It will actually void a SnapOn warranty.

This is incorrect. The only type of torque wrench where Snap-On says not to turn counter-clockwise is the "Tuning fork" style, and those made now, it is physically impossible to turn the anvil counter-clockwise. How I know this will become abundantly clear soon. Warranty on a Snap-On torque wrench is only one year, but the ratchet is a lifetime warranted component. FWIW-my 1/2" I received as a birthday gift in 1979 was last tested and found to be within 2% full-scale. Illustrates the value of careful storage conditions. as Joe Johnson put it "Tools should be treated like fine jewelry"!

i have and do use a "Skidmore-Welhiem" torsion testing machine on all the ones i fix. it measures "tension" on the known diameter test bolt. reason is, a lubricated test bolt with know size and lubricated test nut has been the old standard measurements of air tools.

This guy knows what he's talking about!

There is no ASME or ASTM or ISO standard for the torque applied to a fastener or the tool that is used.

I was quite shocked to learn this as my background is chemistry, enngineering annd quality (albeit in another career path I no longer follow).

This past August I was astounded when in attendance at the Snap-On Franchisee Conference when I spoke with one of the engineers with the comapny that Snap-On owns that makes our torque wrenches annd he told me there was no standard for this critical measurement. He then showed me a Skidmore-Welheim unit and it was his turn to be surprised as I had seen one once before when I worked for a company that owned a nuclear power plat and they calibrate EVERYTHING (sometimes wrong, but I digress.).

Now, where does this leave us? When one is shopping for a new impact tool and is confronted b a dizzyign array of torque specs, be aware that Snap-On impacts are measured using a hybrid method that includes a Skid-Wel (as the engineer I spoke with called it) and they are always conservatively rated to avoid over-inflating the torque generated by our impacts.

 

[Tony Wells]

I worked part time for IR in the industrial side of hand tools (Proto before Stanley bought them) and air winches and air tools. We were a factory service center. We used a Skid-Wel for our rebuilds, except for a 2" impact. Our tester wouldn't quite take that much torque. So, our factory trained service guy had a large socket welded onto a piece of 6" channel iron about 4 feet long and had a couple of us standing on the ends. That 2" impact had to be supported by our hoist and run by 2 guys, one on a 6 foot dead handle. Quite a treat.

David, how much for a vane set for my 2705A1 model A?

 

[Andre]

Arduino Versus Evil on Youtube has built a dynomometer for testing hand drills and impact guns under load.

 

[joshua43214]

@P T Schram
My double beam "click" style 1/4" snap on torque wrench is reversible. It is about 20 years old though. My dealer put the warranty card in my hand, and made me understand that using the ratchet to loosen bolts would void the warranty. The entire wrench carried a life time warranty against any failure anywhere in the wrench - it did not cover periodic maintenance for adjustment though.
That was then, this is now I suppose. I am not surprised that they have changed both the warranty and the ratchet. It is a really fine wrench, and stood up to constant professional use for many years.

 

[Scruffy]

This was a very informative read. Nice to be able to find interesting stuff like this.
Thanks ron